Sunday, December 2, 2012

Goodbye Until 2013

I'm taking a monthlong retreat from social networks, blogging and other public online communication. There are three main questions I'll be contemplating:

How have I been affected by pervasive connection to the social network? I took a week off a couple of years ago and figured out a few things, but I've lost perspective again. I'm taking a full month this time to examine my motivations, evaluate the benefits and costs, and finally reengage with a more intentional strategy for participation.

How will my creative expression change when I stop publishing multiple times each week? My intention to explore longer-term and more substantive projects has been sabotaged by an addictive pull to continuously post new work. I haven't been able to discipline myself to cut down, so I'm going cold turkey.

Is it time to retire the Botgirl Questi persona? Five years ago, a fictional being emerged from my subconscious and became the central focus of my online life and creative expression. Over the last couple of years, the line between author and character has blurred to the point that neither is well served. A change is long overdue.

10 comments:

Best wishes on your break. I completely understand - I think. It is so hard to discipline an identity once it is born. He/she really does take on a life of its own. I wish you all the best and look forward to hearing an update in January. Happy Holidays.

This pattern of public 'quitting' one's persona is such a general feature of SL, and one you don't see much in other social networks like Twitter or Facebook. The only other place I saw it was in Flickr.

I think this may be a feature of the imaginative intensity of visual simulated reality, it has a overpowering ability to impose identity upon us which we sometimes feel powerless to counter.

Hi Botgirl - it's a compelling challenge you've set for yourself and it will be interesting what set of 2013 choices comes as a result of this process.

For us, it was really great to have you be a part of the conversation at iRez. We wound up with a total of 31 authors in 2012.

Who knows what your vision and mission might be in '13, but if contributing to iRez happens to be a part of it, we welcome your work.

I do think 5 years is a really nice interval for a major reconsideration. Paradoxically as you've suggested, especially if things are going, on one level at least, really well. If you were starved for ideas you might say ok, well, it's played out. But just because the ideas continue to flow doesn't mean that you have to express every single one. There are many things in my life that I don't really practice in any longer. When I think about them I always feel a little bittersweet, yet I think the overarching trajectory makes a lot of sense for me.

Have a happy holiday season and best wishes in finding your 2013 adventures!